' . . . her music lives comfortably in a wonderfully old-timey setting that contains equal inspiration from her natural Canadian music traditions, as well as her love for the mountain music of the southern United States.' -Mark O’Connor
Experiencing an April Verch show is like hopping a supersonic freight train from an old lumber camp in northern Ontario, across the wide open prairie, through the Appalachians, down the Mississippi to the Louisiana Bayou, across the sea to Brazil, France, the Scottish Highlands & back, with stops at Carnegie Hall and church thrown in for good measure. An April Verch concert is equal parts invigorating, surprising, heartbreaking, heartwarming, haunting, charming, thrilling, foot-stomping, faith restoring, & smile inducing -all in all, utterly unforgettable. It’s a musical journey you do not want to miss, one that will have you entranced from start to finish, & ultimately not wanting to get off that train that you hopped on just two hours earlier.
A performer since early childhood, 27 year-old April Verch was a seasoned entertainer by the time she finished high school, winning stepdancing & fiddle contests, appearing across her native Canada at concerts, as an invited guest at fiddle contests, & as a teacher at fiddle camps, always integrating dance & fiddling into a seamless, dynamic whole. Following a year of intensive study at Boston’s Berklee School of Music, she launched her professional career by winning the Canadian Grand Masters Fiddle Champion & the Canadian Open Fiddle Champion titles (the first & only woman to win both).
April is not just a world-class fiddler, she is a world-class dancer and a singer whose voice has been hailed as 'absolutely captivating' by the Toronto Star. Since signing with Rounder Records in 2000, she has toured tirelessly, winning over audiences not only with sheer technical ability, but also with her charm, humor, & boundless energy on stage. She crosses genres easily from bluegrass to Brazilian to Celtic, from a jaunty Canadian folksong to a poignant contemporary ballad, & the audience is with her all the way.